Fated
by agent000
Summary: Jack gets a rare opportunity to change how he died, but will he? No pairings, T for being angsty.


_**This idea popped into my head yesterday and wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it, so here it is. I managed to fit the entire thing into one chapter for once, so yeah! It means I won't have yet another unfinished story floating around. *chuckles***_

_**I was going to have an Aussie proofread this story to make sure that Bunny sounded okay, but no one's responding to my call for help, and I don't feel like waiting until they all wake up. Any Aussies reading this, if you have ideas for how Bunny can sound better, don't hesitate to suggest them. I'm okay with editing his speech. I'd rather him sound okay than sound like an American trying to be an Australian. *laughs awkwardly***_

_**Anyway, I stayed up all night to write this, and I'm exhausted, so I hope it makes sense. But my husband liked it, so I suppose that counts for something. Hope the rest of you enjoy this too. :) I'm sorry if any of my history is messed up. History was my worst subject. *snickers***_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own nuttin'. Well, I own some things, but Jack won't let me own him, nor will Bunny, so I can't lay claim to either of them. Meanies.**_

"Why can't one change the past?" said the man to the computer.

"Because," said the computer, housing a twinge of disdain at being asked such an idiotic question, "one cannot go _into_ the past."

Sound familiar? Perhaps you've heard these words from the modern remake of _The Time Machine. _Or perhaps you haven't. Does it matter? Probably not.

But isn't it ironic that despite the man asking this, his question is never truly answered?

Knowing that I work alongside a time traveler every day, these words troubled me. I didn't really want to pester Bunny with my own stupid issues, and so I tried my best to keep my thoughts to myself. But sometimes my tongue operates independently of my brain, and one day I found myself blurting out this very question.

However, Bunny's response wasn't the same as that of the computer in the movie. He knew how to travel into the past, and he knew exactly what the implications of it were. "Believe me, Frostbite," he said, "even if you could change the past, you wouldn't want to."

I blinked in surprise at this, and stupidly plunged on ahead, spurred on by having gotten Bunny to bite onto my question. "But why can't one change it?"

His big, furry eyebrows glowered at me as though I'd just stepped on his pet beetle. "Why do you even want to know?"

Now that was a question I hadn't been prepared for, and I staggered back before falling silent. Granted, I hadn't been prepared for any of Bunny's responses relating to this, but this question had me wondering. Why had I asked that in the first place? Why was it so important to me?

I finally sighed and hung my head. "I don't know."

He rolled his eyes. "Just trust me, mate, you don't want to try it." He then hopped off to do whatever rabbits do when they're not in the presence of Jack Frost, which is a question I don't think I'll ever have answered. But now that he was gone, I began to have the question I was passionate about flood my mind and not let go.

Bunny had left me alone in the Warren and had gone elsewhere. It meant he wasn't keeping an eye on me, even though he was fully aware I could get in trouble if I was left on my own. I'd done it before. This meant I had an opportunity to explore my questioning mind. This meant he couldn't stop me. This was a great opportunity.

I didn't know where Bunny kept all his time traveling paraphernalia, nor did I know if I would know what to do with it even if I found it, but I had to try. I still didn't know what I was doing or why I was doing it, but I had a compulsion to do this, and I couldn't ignore a compulsion. I explored a bunch of different burrows, shoved aside myriads of empty boxes, and scoured the place for hidden doorways. At last, I found it.

There it was, sparkling in the small ray of light coming through the open door as I walked into one of Bunny's hidden burrows. His egg staff. I'd seen him use it on his jaunts through time before. Looking both ways to ensure I wasn't being noticed, I tiptoed up to the staff and grasped it in my hands, then let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

I just stood there, holding the staff in my hands for several moments in admiration. Where did Bunny's time traveling power come from? Was the power in the staff? Or in the egg mounted on top of the staff? Or was it just in Bunny himself? I put the staff in one hand and held it erect as I do with my own staff just to get a feeling of what this staff meant to Bunny. I didn't actually have any plans of trying to use it. I didn't know the first thing about time travel, and I knew there was huge potential for screwing up if one didn't know what they were doing. Even I'm not stupid enough to try launching into something that persnickety. I could wind up on the other side of the universe just as it was coming into being for all I knew, and I might never be able to get back home. The risk wasn't worth it.

Having arrived at this conclusion, I was just moving to put Bunny's staff back where I'd found it and be a good boy when some noise in the burrow behind me startled me to attention. I spun around to see Bunny staring at me with an expression I can only describe as a merging of shocked and irate. "Jack!" he said, using my actual name for once, which was rarely ever a good sign, coming from Bunny. "What are you doing with that?"

I looked between my friend and the betraying object in my hand, then down to my own staff abandoned on the floor just a couple feet away. My mouth dried up, leaving me without words to say. "I-I don't—I was just—"

"Well just put that thing down and get the bloody hell out of there!" I nodded and hastily began to shove it back where I'd found it. Perhaps this motion was too severe, as it sparked Bunny's next response. "Gently, Frostbite! Just put it back lightly, and for the love of God, don't think of anything but home until you let go of it."

Maybe those were the right words for Bunny and his handling of his staff, but the same words held a different effect on me. At the present time, I didn't have a proper home. I hadn't had one in a very long time. So at the mention of home, my mind automatically went back three hundred years, and the moment it did, the staff in my hands lit up.

Bunny's eyes went wide. "Let go! Now!" All I could do was stare in confusion between him and his staff, unable to process what he had just said. It seemed he'd noticed this, as he launched himself toward me and looked like he intended to either grab me or the staff or knock both me and the staff in separate directions. However, he jumped just a moment too late, and the light from the staff flashed over my entire body. Just as quickly, Bunny and his Warren vanished from my sight.

The next thing I knew, I opened my eyes to stare at the wooden slats of a ceiling overhead. Some kind of blanket was pulled over me, yet I felt cold. This was odd to me, because despite being so cold all the time, I never actually felt cold. But now, I felt the chill, and I pulled the blanket tighter, trying to hide from the sensation. I liberated one hand from underneath the blanket and touched it to my face. Warmth. I felt warm to my own touch. What was going on?

A knock at the door. "Jack, dear, do please get up. Your father and sister are already at the breakfast table."

I slightly gasped as I bolted up to a sitting position. The blanket fell away, revealing what I had been wearing underneath. My hoodie was gone, and my staff was nowhere in sight. In their place was my white shirt and brown vest, and nearby the cloak I was once so familiar with was draped over the back of a rickety old chair. The past three hundred years hadn't all been some sort of sick dream, had they?

The knock came again. "Jack, this is your final warning. I shall not tell you again."

"Coming, mamma," I said automatically, then hoisted myself out of bed. It was strange how I had adapted my speech so much over the centuries, but I had never gotten out of the habit of referring to my parents as mamma and pappa. Some things were just too deeply ingrained to ever lose them, I guessed. The fact that I had slept in my day clothes instead of putting on my night clothes was testament enough to that. I wasn't sure if I would ever break that habit, no matter which form I took.

Stepping out of my bedroom and into the rest of the house was like stepping into a dream. It was all so surreal. There was my father, sitting at the table and barking to my mother about how much of a frustration I was that I was eighteen and still useless to the family, and how my only hope was to get apprenticed to someone. Anyone. My gut tightened at the thought, but I brushed the feeling aside. It wasn't going to happen. I wouldn't allow it.

There was my mother, ladling steaming porridge into everyone's bowls and trying to appear as the good wife by nodding at my father and pretending to smile, though I could tell she was growing weary of these discussions. She loved her crazy son, despite how unruly and embarrassing I was.

And then there was Tannie, my dear little sister, bouncing excitedly in her seat at the sight of me and waving me over so she could talk to me. Tears welled up in my eyes at the sight of her, and I scampered over to the table and sat down across from her.

She leaned forward. "You shall teach me to ice skate today, yes?"

My jaw must have appeared to have detached from the rest of my face as it hung open, because she then said, "Jack? What is it?"

"Oh," I said, shaking my head to clear my thoughts once again. Something had clicked in that moment, and a realization began to surface. I had traveled to the past somehow, despite my lack of time travel knowledge. I had assumed that if I were to travel back in time to this moment, that I would see my past self going about his day and have two Jacks there in a sort of paradox. I hadn't expected to actually become my past self. Was this what Bunny always experienced, or did I just not know what I was doing?

As the realization of what was happening settled in more, I reached a conclusion: If I was here before the big accident on the lake, then I could ensure that the accident never happened. I could save myself the pain of the three hundred years of solitude, not to mention the guilt at leaving Tannie behind without me to take care of her. This could be a wonderful opportunity.

I shook my head at Tannie, and she looked at me like I was going insane for shaking my head twice. I cleared my throat in the hopes of regaining some semblance of sanity, then said, "No, I already checked the lake. The ice is dangerous today. We will have to do it another time."

"Awwww…" She sat back in her chair with a whine, but didn't fuss further about it and merely dug into her porridge. I smirked despite myself. I had just saved us all a bunch of trouble.

My father rounded on me, an irritable look on his face. Despite knowing how much older than him I was by now, I still cringed like a child. I never knew what to expect from this man when he looked at me like that. "Jackson, you promised you would take Tanja out with you today while we arranged your apprenticeship. If the lake is not suitable, then you shall find a more suitable activity."

I muttered a hasty, "Yessir" to him before I finally started tucking into my own bowl of porridge. Living with this kind of responsibility would be a huge downside to staying in this time. This was the age when an eighteen-year-old was not too old to be whipped, and whipped hard at that. Nor was it frowned upon, and I knew my father would not hold back if I interfered with his plans today. I wolfed down my porridge, rushed Tannie through getting herself ready, then kissed my mother on the cheek and bid her goodbye for the day. At least I knew it wouldn't be the last time I saw her this time.

As soon as we were outside, I sighed in relief. The general air inside the house was so tense I was convinced my mother could slice it like butter and cook with it if she was so inclined. And it would stay that way until I had successfully been forced into becoming a man, which I was determined never to do. How long I could keep up this charade, I couldn't tell, but I was going to take it one day at a time and enjoy my day with my sister.

We casually wandered through the village, dryly commenting on this and that in an attempt to be interested in something, when we stumbled upon some kids playing games I hadn't seen anyone play in a very long time using sticks and stones and metal hoops. Tannie and I smiled at each other, then joined in with the games. Despite how old I was, none of the kids of the village had ever minded me joining in. I always made the games more fun, and we soon had an epic hoop racing battle going on.

The day might have been almost perfect if I hadn't then heard young Peter leering at Joseph, "You are too much of a coward, just as surely as your father is a coward. You could never do this."

Joseph was quick to defend his family's honor. "I am no coward! Do what you must!"

My eyes widened in horror as I took in the scene of Peter then setting Joseph up in front of an old shed, and then watched as Peter and a couple of accomplices began to throw knives at the poor, terrified boy. Peter's aim was pretty good and never even grazed Joseph, but I was getting worried about the other two. One of them had already knicked Joseph's ear, and the other kid had one of his knives come dangerously close to impaling Joseph's hand. I couldn't just stand by and watch.

I stormed over to the boys and grabbed Peter from behind by the scruff of his clothing. "Hey, Peter Pan, will you grow up already?" The reference was missed by the kid, which I supposed I should have expected, since Peter Pan hadn't even been written yet, so I continued on. "What do you think you're doing, throwing knives at the poor kid?"

The other two boys began to crack up at this, and it took me some time to realize what they'd found so funny. It became apparent when one of the boys then said, "You see, Joseph? Even Jack thinks you're nothing but a goat." I huffed, realizing I needed to keep my modern day lingo in check, then tried again. "This needs to stop. You are being childish."

Of course, that didn't stop the little troublemakers. If anything, it spurred them on even more, and the two with bad aim were seriously starting to worry me, especially when one of them started idly tossing a very large knife in his hand.

I released Peter and jumped in front of Joseph, throwing out my arms to block the onslaught of knives from reaching the poor boy, and I shouted, "Stop!"

It seemed I'd shouted a moment too late, as the large knife had already left the boy's hand, and the look of growing horror on the boy's face told me that his aim with a knife that large had gotten even worse than normal. It was headed straight for me.

Time slowed down. I saw the horrified looks of realization from everyone present as they took in the situation, but no one was able to move fast enough to fix this. I just stood in my paralyzed state as the knife slowly advanced upon me and then plunged directly into my chest.

"Jack!" Time returned to its normal speed, and Tannie ran up to me, tears streaming down her face and staining her cheeks an ugly color. This wasn't how I wanted to remember her. I wanted to see her smiling.

I reached out and stroked her cheek, trying to smile at her through the pain. I wanted to tell her to smile for me, and so I said, "Tannie…" but the rest of the words wouldn't come out. My arm got weak and fell to my side.

"Jack!" Tannie thrust her arms around me and began to shake me as though hoping the motion would help somehow. "Jack, no! Jack! Jack, stay with us! Jack!" If the motion did anything at all, the only thing it seemed to help was to speed the process of bloodloss. My consciousness started to slip after that, and it wasn't long before everyone's concerned voices just became a tumble of murmurs. And then they became a disorienting buzzing in my ear.

And then their voices stopped registering at all as everything went black.

I opened my eyes and found my hand once again gripped tightly around Bunny's staff, with Bunny leaping toward me, almost frozen in place in the air, as time seemed to be at a standstill. The staff still glowed around me as I realized I'd left Tannie behind again, in an even worse way than before.

The light flashed before my eyes again, and Bunny and his Warren disappeared for the second time. The next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes to see the wooden planks of my bedroom ceiling once again. I heaved a sigh of relief. The incident with Peter and his gang never happened. I just hoped they wouldn't still goad Joseph into proving himself that way if Tannie and I weren't there. Those boys did have a tendency to show off in front of me though, and I knew it. Avoiding them for the day was probably the wisest choice.

This time, when I went out to the breakfast table, I suggested to Tannie that we take a walk in the woods instead. She agreed, and soon we were out strolling through the woods outside our village, Tannie carrying a basket mamma had asked her to take in the hopes of our finding mamma some fresh herbs to cook with.

We ran and skipped and played for some time, and I pretended to be a bear on the hunt for the delicacy of Tannie meat as she squealed and tried to outrun me. Occasionally we even found an herb or two, but we were making very slow progress in actually doing anything useful, I'm afraid. It was just too tempting to play, especially since I just couldn't get enough time with my sister after not having her around for three hundred years.

Tannie decided to rectify our useless behavior upon finding a huge outcropping of edible mushrooms growing off of some oddball trees that had decided to sprout off the edge of a cliff. It would require her climbing down the cliff face a ways, but I had taught her the art of climbing well, and I was sure she could handle herself.

She gently lowered herself down to the nearest tree trunk and began to stuff her basket up with mushrooms, then ventured to the next tree trunk and then the next. When she was finally satisfied, she passed the basket back up to me so she would have full use of her hands, and she began to climb.

But Tannie forgot one rule I had always insisted upon. When climbing a rock wall, always, always, always check whether the rocks are stable before you apply your weight to them. As it happened, she placed her foot against a rock that jutted out from the cliff, and I cringed when I saw it shift beneath her foot. She still had time if she quickly pulled her weight off of that rock and didn't release her handholds, but before I could warn her, she had already reached for an even higher handhold as she put all her weight on that rock.

I didn't even take the time to think as I leapt over the side of the cliff and landed on one of the trees near her. Thankfully my aim had been pretty good. The rock she was standing on gave way, and she began to fall into the ravine, but I grasped her hand before she could plummet any further. She began to whimper in fear as she dangled in the air.

"It's okay," I said, "It's gonna be okay." I didn't even bother to make sure my language fit the current time. There were more important things to think about. "Just put your foot up here on the trunk." She did as she was told. "Good, that's it. Now give me your other hand and I'll lift you up." Again, she obeyed, and together, we hoisted her up next to me on the oddball tree. I breathed a sigh of relief. She was safe.

"Okay," I said, "now let's get you back up onto solid ground, hmm?"

She just chuckled at me and said, "Why is your speech so abysmal today, Jack?"

I rolled my eyes. Of course she would have to ask me about that, wouldn't she? Good ol' Tannie never misses anything. "I'm just being an oddball today."

"You are surely odd every day, Jack. There is nothing new about today."

I wanted to take an affront to that, but I found myself laughing. Tannie had never been one to mince words around me. "Well, alright," I said. "Let's just get you to safety and then I'll go back to talking the way I'm supposed to, okay?"

She laughed in response, and I decided that meant yes, so I hoisted her over my head and held her there as she got her bearings and climbed back up to solid ground.

Perhaps I was a bad teacher, as Tannie wasn't the only one to forget my lessons about climbing that day. I'd forgotten how much of an impact it could make to be holding something heavy while in a precarious position, only to have it suddenly taken away. The sudden loss of Tannie's weight sent my feet sliding, and I only had barely enough time to grasp the trunk of the tree as the rest of me sailed past it, leaving me dangling above the ravine. This wasn't good.

"Jack!"

I looked up and saw a worried Tannie looking down at me from the edge of the cliff. At least she was safely up there, even if I wasn't. I hoped she planned to stay there and not come after me. This cliff was too dangerous. For either one of us.

She looked as though she was going to come back down. I was not okay with that. "Stay there, Tannie!"

"B-But, Jack…"

"No buts!" I said, "This cliff isn't safe. Just…" I paused, trying to think of any way I could stall her so she wouldn't endanger herself. I blurted out the first thing I could think of. "Just go get mamma and pappa. They can help me out of here."

"But—"

"No!" I shouted, just as my fingers started to slip. "Do it now! I don't have much time." My fingers slipped again, and the sight of this struck fear on her face. She jumped to her feet, ready to follow my orders.

Sadly, it didn't seem to matter whether she did so or not, as my fingers slipped yet again and then lost all grip on the tree, and the next thing I knew, I was falling.

The funny thing about falling was just how much it felt like flying. I almost felt like I shouldn't have been afraid of this, except that I was, since I had no power to stop my descent. This body I was currently in had no ability to fly or to survive the inevitable impact that was coming. Why had I failed again? Was I really that stupid? Couldn't I at least be there for Tannie until she grew up? Or got married? I wasn't asking much, only a little more time. Was it really too much to ask?

Regardless, there was no stopping my fall this time, and I whimpered as I resigned myself to my fate, closing my eyes so I wouldn't have to see the world falling apart as I felt my body impact the earth.

My eyes opened, and I saw Bunny leaping toward me. His staff still glowed in my hand. Bunny was closer to me than last time, but still not within reach. He hadn't been able to stop me from seeing Tannie twice, or from leaving her behind both times. My mind reeled at the thought.

_Tannie!_

The light flashed over my vision once again, erasing everything from view until I once again awakened in my old bedroom. Was I just going to keep going through this routine until I got it right? Perhaps. At least I'd learned a few things by now. Don't go near the lake, or through the village, or near the cliff. Things should be safer elsewhere.

So Tannie and I soon found ourselves picking herbs in a part of the forest far away from the cliff. We hadn't found many mushrooms this time, but I was quite tired of mushrooms now, to be honest. I plucked a leaf of wild mint and playfully rubbed it all over her face, telling her that she was now a piece of candy, because she was always so sweet. This sent her into a fit of giggles, which caused both of us to drop our guards.

If we'd been paying attention, we would have noticed the bear. If we'd been paying even better attention, we would have possibly noticed the hunter who was trying to get said bear. But neither one of us were paying attention to anything as I ran out into the path of an oncoming arrow.

The bear saw me drop to the ground and quickly lost interest in what he'd been doing and scampered off, aware of the danger that awaited him if he stayed there. Tannie came running over to me as she screamed my name, and another voice joined in with hers as another set of footsteps approached.

I was vaguely aware that this other person was a native, and a very concerned one at that, since I had not been the intended target. The natives and the settlers got along peaceably in Pennsylvania, so this had all been a big mistake. How was I managing to have this kind of luck every single time I came back to this time?

I could barely process anything the two were talking about since the arrow had landed right in a critical spot, but I thought I heard them say something about getting me to a medicine man of some sort, though whether they meant the doctor in my village or the healer in his, I couldn't say. All I knew was that strong arms had then scooped me up and carted me off in some random direction as my consciousness began to fade.

"Tannie…" I muttered, and she squeezed my hand, though I barely felt it.

"Stay with us, Jack," said Tannie, "All will be well." It sounded like she was trying to encourage me the way that I would have encouraged her in a similar situation, but she had less ability to back up her assertion than I did. I smirked at her attempt though. It was oddly encouraging.

"Please do not sleep, Jack," she said as my eyes started to drift shut. "Stay awake. Please… practice your numbers, Jack. How high can you count?"

"One…" I said, through labored breaths. "Two… three…"

I don't remember how far I actually got, but I didn't get anywhere near as high as I could count, nor did I ever make it to either village. I blacked out before we even got halfway.

My eyes opened again as I saw Bunny still leaping toward me, closer than he'd ever been before, but still not yet close enough. My thoughts raced back to my last encounter. Why did I keep dying in gruesome ways in front of Tannie? Couldn't I at least do it in a better way if I had to die at all?

The light flashed and I was in the past again. I decided to try something completely different this time and offer to assist my father in his blacksmith shop, which seemed to cheer him up considerably, despite Tannie feeling a bit deflated that I wasn't going to play with her. Maybe it was spending the day playing that was what caused this repeating curse. Maybe if I didn't play for just one day, it would stop.

The blacksmithing work was just as excruciating as I'd expected, and I wanted to scream from boredom after only two hours, but I held my tongue. Just because I wasn't meant for smithing work didn't mean I couldn't suck it up for just one day in the hopes of breaking a curse that kept costing me my life. Not to mention, Tannie had decided to watch my father and I work rather than running off to play. She kept a safe distance of course, but her presence kept me sane enough to continue.

Whether I could have safely gotten all the way through the day I never found out, because there came a point when Tannie tripped over some object my father had carelessly left on the floor, which sent her falling dangerously close to the fire. My instincts took charge, and I leapt in her way and tossed her aside. She was safe, but as with the incident on the lake, the forward momentum from pushing her gave me a backward momentum that pushed me into the fire.

I heard screaming, though I wasn't sure if it came from Tannie, pappa, or myself. Either way, it wasn't long before the red flames turned black, and I had once again fallen unconscious.

My eyes opened again to see Bunny right in front of my face. My thoughts were just about to go back to the last experience I'd had when Bunny suddenly managed to kick the staff out of my hand and shove me in the opposite direction from it. I landed with an "Oomph!" on a pile of burlap sacks full of something or other, and Bunny wiped some imaginary sweat off his brow as he picked up his staff and sighed in relief.

"I thought you were a goner for a moment there, mate," he said. "You were flicking in and out like you were in some kind of time loop. I wasn't sure if I would reach you before you wiped yourself out of existence."

My eyebrows shot up. Wipe myself out of existence? I could have done that? I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I supposed I had been in a time loop of sorts. I had kept returning to the same point in time over and over and over again and reliving the same things until I attempted to change them. The memory of what had just transpired this last time finally had a chance to resurface, and I felt tears prick my eyes before I turned to face Bunny.

"Bunny," I said, my voice wobbling more than I'd expected, "why did I keep dying?" I sniffled and rubbed my eyes, then looked at him again. "Why couldn't I change the past?"

He sighed before giving me a look that I could only describe as pity. Wasn't he angry with me for grabbing his staff without permission? I know I would have been if someone had made off with my staff, even though no one but me could have done anything with it. My crime against Bunny was so much worse, and yet he seemed saddened when he should have been angry.

"Is that what you tried to do?" he said. "Stop yourself from having that accident?"

I nodded wordlessly, and he sighed an all-knowing sigh, then came and took a seat beside me on the pile of burlap sacks. "You know, I tried to do something like that once myself."

My eyes snapped up to him in surprise. Bunny? Do something reckless with time? "What?!"

He nodded. "What would you do if you were the last of your kind and had the ability to travel through time?"

"Heh." I scratched my head awkwardly. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Bunny had been just as crazy as me? Was this why he got so angry at me all the time? Did I remind him of himself? "I suppose I would try to save my kind," I said.

He nodded wordlessly, and so I hung my head and muttered, "Why didn't it work?" I wasn't sure whether I was referring to Bunny's experience or my own. I hoped he knew, because this whole experience was only getting more confusing the longer I went with it.

"Some things are fated, Frostbite. No matter what we try, there's no changing them. Believe me, I have tried. But all it did was throw me into an endless time loop not unlike the one you just went through. Father Time had to pull me out of it, and he cautioned me never to tamper with fate again."

At the mention of my time loop, I hung my head and whispered, "I'm sorry." And I really meant it. I had caused a lot of unnecessary trouble for the both of us, and I regretted it.

He reached over and ruffled my hair. "It's not all your fault, mate. I should have taken your question more seriously. I never realized you were that determined to get an answer. Once someone gets themselves locked into a time loop, they can't get themselves out without help."

I gulped and nodded. I couldn't believe he wasn't laying the blame for this on me. He was being a lot more understanding than I ever could have expected him to be. There was more to him than met the eye, and I found myself wanting to get to know him better after this, but there was something that bothered me at the moment.

My gaze fell down onto my hands, and I cringed at the sight of them. Though my hands were once again three hundred years old, they were still covered in burn scars, a remnant from the last version of how I'd died. I could only imagine how the rest of me looked. This was not the legacy I wanted to carry with me through all eternity. I did not want to remember how I had tried and failed to be there for my sister time after time after time. It would only leave me feeling useless, and I was pretty sure Bunny would agree that this would not serve me well.

"Bunny?" I said.

"Hmm?"

I showed him my hands, and explained the significance of them to him. He visibly cringed at the sight himself, though it appeared that he tried not to show it. Like me, he remembered how things had been before all this went down, which was probably one of the perks of being a time traveler. Or one of the curses. I supposed it could go either way.

"May I go back one more time, Bunny?" He raised an eyebrow at me, and I hid my face in shame. "Not to change things. Just to make things right. I'm done messing with fate."

He pondered my request for a long couple minutes, then resigned himself with a sigh and pushed himself up to a standing position. "Alright, I'll allow one more trip," he said. "But I'm taking you so you don't mess things up. I'll keep out of sight so I don't mess anything up, but I'll be watching to make sure you do things right. Do I make myself clear?"

"Loud and clear."

"Alright," he said. "One more time, Frostbite. Make it count." And with that, he touched the egg on the top of his staff to my head, and the light once again flashed over my vision and everything disappeared.

I woke up once again in my old bedroom. I sighed sadly as I realized what I had to do, and tears sprung to my eyes. Wasn't there any way I could comfort Tannie about all of this? She was going to forever blame herself for how I died, though there was no way it was her fault. I was fated to die today and become a Guardian, and nothing she said or did would prevent that.

I bolted upright in bed. I had an idea. I quickly got myself ready and rushed out to breakfast. Tannie once again asked me if we were going ice skating today. I stiffened momentarily before saying, "Of course!" I then wolfed down my food as quickly as possible. I needed as much time as I could get before the inevitable happened.

I once again rushed Tannie through her morning preparations, and then we both ran outside. She was about to run eagerly to the lake, but I grabbed her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. She turned and looked at me. "What is the matter, Jack?"

"Can we take a detour?" I said. "I need to talk to you." She nodded, so I gestured toward a scenic path that we sometimes walked when we just needed time to think, and she followed me as we began to walk.

"What troubles you, Jack?"

What troubled me, indeed? How was I to explain this to her? She wouldn't believe me if I just came right out and said it, and so it wouldn't do her any good. I had to say it in her language, but what was her language at this time?

"Shall we pray, Jack? Mamma says that if we are troubled, God will surely guide us through our troubles."

I snapped my fingers. That was it. I'd forgotten how religious my family was. Most families of this day and age were extremely religious. The only reason I wasn't now was because nothing made sense anymore after becoming Jack Frost, and I had no idea what to believe. But Tannie still believed, and with any luck, I hoped I would enable her to continue believing so she would have some sort of faith to cling to once I was gone.

"It's not that, Tannie," I said. I ran my fingers through my hair, then sighed. This was going to be so hard, but I had to get it over with. "I… I guess you could say I had a… a vision. From God."

This earned quite the curious look from Tannie. "God has spoken to you?" I nodded. "Why are you so troubled?"

"Because," I said, "I was told I am about to…" I coughed. I couldn't bring myself to just bluntly say the word "die", so I had to water it down a bit. "…About to join Him in His kingdom."

She stopped walking and stared at me, a look of uncertainty plastered over her face. I wasn't sure if she was going to faint on the spot or take off running. "Tannie?" I said. "You okay?"

Instead of answering me directly, she said, "What are you saying, Jack?"

I sighed and hung my head. It appeared I was going to have to be a little more blunt after all. I didn't like this. I took a deep breath. "It means that I'm about to… perish, Tannie. The Lord needs me for a greater purpose, and there is nothing I can do to change this." The poor girl looked completely freaked out, and so I knelt down to her level and hugged her as tightly as I dared. "I just wanted to tell you now so that you didn't think it was your fault when you see me go. It's the Lord's will, so please don't blame yourself."

There was a long pause after I finished talking. I wasn't sure if she was okay or if she even believed me. I hoped she did, though half of me secretly hoped she didn't so that she could just be blissful right up until the very end, but I knew that keeping her in the dark like that when I knew what was going to happen would just be cruel. She needed to be informed.

She hiccuped a few times, then looked up at me. Her eyes were beginning to turn red with unshed tears. "Why does the Lord wish to take you from us? Does he not realize that we have need of you as well?"

I sighed and rubbed her hair as she began to lose control of her emotions and the tears began to fall and saturate my shirt. I simply allowed her to cry herself out. Having her tears in my shirt wasn't that bad of a thing to me. It allowed me to hold onto a part of her for as long as I kept this shirt, even though I wouldn't remember her directly for most of the next three hundred years. I would still know deep down.

"Mamma and pappa don't need me, Tannie." She hiccuped even more at that, but she knew it was true. "You're the only one who still needs me, and I think the Lord will continue to allow me to watch you from afar."

She cried some more, and I continued to hold her, not knowing what to do. How does one comfort your sister when you're telling her you're just about to die? I'd never had any experience with this, and I didn't know if I was even going about this in a good way.

She sniffled again and said, "Why does the Lord not wish for me to see you?"

I stroked her hair again for a moment as I thought. "Tell you what," I said. "If you return to the place where I perish after the moon has risen as high as it will get that night, then you just may see me be reborn as… as an angel." She dried her eyes and looked at me, hope filling her eyes. I sighed and hoped I was telling her the truth about this. But I couldn't see why my plan would fail if she followed my exact instructions.

"But you must believe with your whole heart, or else you will not be rewarded with the sight," I said. "Only those who believe can witness the birth of an angel."

"I can believe!" she shouted. "If that allows me to see you, then I shall believe!"

I smiled slightly, but sadly. She was such a wonderful sister, and I was going to miss her so much. I kissed her forehead, hoping that would send her enough love to tide her over for the rest of her life, since I wouldn't be there to kiss her goodnight or sing her to sleep anymore. "Good," I said. "Just make sure you stay out of sight. I won't remember anything. I, uh… the Lord has seen fit to remove all my earthly memories until I am ready to receive them back so they won't interfere with my heavenly mission."

She seemed saddened by this, but she agreed to stay out of sight so that she wouldn't risk screwing anything up. I hugged her again. She was so strong, and I was so proud of her. What had I ever done to deserve such a wonderful little sister? She was the one who should have become an angel, not me. Though for all I knew, maybe she had. I had actually become a Guardian, but that was close I supposed.

Tannie was ready. I could tell. I wasn't sure if I was, but I knew Bunny was watching, and I dared not put things off any longer. I took Tannie by the hand and led her to the lake. I knew where the ice was too fragile to skate, and my natural instinct was to warn her of this, but I held myself back. In none of my experiences had any harm ever come to her. Only to me. She would be fine even if I didn't warn her. But I wouldn't even if I did. That was just set in stone. She survived this day, and I did not. It didn't matter what I did.

We slipped on our skates and skated around the lake, acting as gleeful as we possibly could, though there was a sense of foreboding over the whole thing. We both knew what was coming, even though we both tried to pretend we were unaware for the sake of having one last play date together. I could tell she felt slightly guilty about not telling mamma and pappa about my "vision" too so they could say goodbye before I died. I had to admit that I felt mildly guilty about that too, but our parents would just interfere. It was best to leave them out of it. I think Tannie knew that.

At some point, Tannie skated to the middle of the lake. I took a deep breath. This was it. I was going to have to follow her there. I skated to the middle of the lake as well, and as soon as I'd gotten there, the ice began to crack beneath her skates.

I glanced down and realized my skates were still on, but I wasn't about to take them off when my sister's life was at stake. How much was that going to change about my timeline? Would Jack Frost become known as an ice skater instead of as a barefoot boy? That would be a strange turn of events, but I supposed it wasn't that big of a deal. It was better than being burned for eternity.

The ice began to crack beneath my feet as well, and I goofed around while sliding off of them, similar to how I'd done it the first time. It wasn't exactly the same, but nothing I was doing now was exactly the same. I'd already changed too much, but at least I'd learned to leave the major events alone.

I grabbed a nearby stick, the stick that was to become my faithful staff, and I continued to garble in useless patter to distract her from her plight as I then hooked the staff around her waist and yanked her off of that dangerous ice. I sighed in relief that she was now safe. Though my heart sunk as I realized what was coming next. I did not want to relive this, but it seemed I had no choice.

I hesitated for a moment before getting up, as I knew that standing up was the very thing that would break the ice and send me into the freezing water. The ice was still cracking beneath me, but I hoped I could stall for just a tiny bit more time.

"Jack?" called Tannie, "Are you well?"

"I-I am," I replied, "…for now." I carefully looked up and saw her sitting there on the ice, staring at me with a mixture of sadness and fear. She knew what was coming, but I could tell that she had hoped it wouldn't come this soon. The poor thing. I wished I could make it easier for her, but I'd already done everything I could. I only hoped it was enough for her to realize it wasn't her fault.

"I-I love you, Tannie," I said. Then I got an idea and added, "Make sure you teach your kids to ice skate. In my memory. Okay?"

This idea seemed to confuse her, and she said, "Why would I wish to teach young goats to ice skate?"

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean, smartypants. Your children. Teach your children."

She huffed amusedly in response, though a few tears showed how she really felt about the situation. There was no way for her to intervene in my plight. The ice beneath me was so fragile that any attempt by her or anyone else to get me off of it would just send me into the lake, and she was smart enough to know that. I'd forgotten just how smart she was.

"I will teach my children, Jack, if that is what you wish."

I nodded. "I do wish. I don't want you to be afraid of the ice forever. And um… marry someone pappa can't stand. He needs to be taught a thing or two."

Tannie chuckled a bit at that, despite her tears, but then nodded her consent to this idea too. I breathed one last "I love you", which she returned, before I finally gave in and stood up, which instantly plummeted me into the freezing water. Within a few minutes, I had blacked out once again.

I woke up where I'd been in Bunny's Warren before he had sent me back the last time, and the first thing I did was examine my hands. I breathed a sigh of relief. No scarring. At least one thing had been corrected, but I felt a lurch in my gut when I thought about Tannie. That had to be the hardest departure yet. How had she fared after that?

Bunny clicked his tongue and shook his head at me in mild disdain. "You just can't leave well enough alone, can you, Frostbite?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I saw what you did," he said. "All that stuff about turning into an angel and whatnot. You should have told her you were turning into the spawn of satan. Would've been closer to the truth." I blew him a raspberry and promptly punched him on the shoulder. Spawn of satan indeed. Everyone knew that the spawn of satan only ever took the form of gigantic rabbits.

Bunny then pulled something out of a hidden cupboard and handed it to me. "Since _someone _who shall remain nameless decided to mess with time, I have to give you this now." I sheepishly chuckled, then looked down at the object in my hand. It was an envelope, bearing just one word on the outside: Jack.

"Well, open it, you gumby. I've been waiting centuries to know what that's about."

I nodded and tore the envelope open and pulled out the letter inside, then read it aloud for Bunny's benefit.

"Dearest Jack," it read, "If you are reading this now, then I assume you have your memories back and know who I am." I glanced at the name at the end of the letter, then yelled, "Tannie?!" I looked up at Bunny, my eyes wide in disbelief. "My sister sent me a letter! Sent _me_ a letter, _now! _From _long ago!"_

Bunny just rolled his eyes and said, "It happens, Frostbite. It just wasn't going to happen for you until you blabbed everything to your sister. Now read the bloody letter before I go blooming mad."

I went back to the letter. "I wanted to inform you that I heeded your advice and have taught my little goats and my little grandgoats how to ice skate in your honor." I burst out laughing and had to explain the joke to Bunny about how my sister kept poking fun at my modern day language. He rolled his eyes and muttered something about me being too stupid to time travel if I can't even get my language right, but then he allowed me to continue.

"They have been told about their uncle who became an angel to protect them. We have seen you performing your heavenly duties from time to time, but I have instructed them to keep their distance so that they do not interfere until the Lord deems you ready to know us once again." I then interjected with, "Aw, Tannie, you didn't have to keep up the facade _forever._ I just needed you not to confuse me by acting like you knew me when I didn't know you." Bunny simply chuckled into his paw at this slight lapse of communication on my part, and I just rolled my eyes. There was no reasoning with an evil rabbit.

I continued reading. "Pappa has disowned me for my choice of a husband, as the man I chose is Dutch. I hope this pleases you greatly." I had to admit, I was cracking up quite a bit as I read that bit. My father deserved to be brought down a peg. Our pure Norwegian blood was now forever watered down, and the poor baby would just have to deal with it. "He has been a good father and a good husband to me, and the Lord gave us three beautiful children. I do not believe you ever met him, but his name is James Bennett."

"What?!" I nearly dropped the letter in shock. "You married a Bennett?! You… You… I'm related to Jamie and Sophie?" This time, Bunny's eyebrows shot up in shock.

"I can't imagine you being the anklebiter's uncle. You sure it's the right Bennett? They could be completely unrelated."

"Perhaps," I said, "If this had been in Philadelphia. But Burgess is and always has been a tiny town. There's no way this guy's not related."

Bunny went silent for several moments as he processed this new information before he finally shook his finger at me and said, "Alright, but just because you're related to the anklebiter doesn't mean I like you, got it?"

I smirked. We were finally back to our old rivalry. It was refreshing. "Noted," I said, then I got back to the letter. "And let it be known that I did not spend my existence pining for you. I grew. I raised a family. I built a home. I worked. I grew old. I lived. I told myself that if the Lord could use one of us in Heaven, then He could use the other of us on Earth. So I have done my best to make myself of use to Him. I have seen many a smiling face in this town since. I have no regrets."

I sniffled, and felt a brotherly surge of pride welling up in my heart. Man, was my sister awesome!

"I hope that you help many people in your new life, Jack, and that we can finally reunite one day in Heaven. Know that no one is more proud of you than I am.

"Your loving sister,

"Tanja"

It took several minutes after the conclusion of the letter for me to calm myself enough to speak, as my body was too bent on attempting to cry to allow myself to. My sister had lived her life. She hadn't let my absence from her life drag her down. She had just _lived. _Despite the whole fate thing, I had somehow managed to make a difference.

"You okay, Frostbite?"

I looked up at Bunny with tears in my eyes that I was doing my best not to allow to fall. "Bunny," I said, "who decides our fate?"

He simply shrugged like he had asked this question thousands of times in the past and had finally come to peace with not knowing. "I don't know," he said, "maybe we do it to ourselves."

"What?" I said. "Why would we do that to ourselves?"

Again he shrugged. "Think about it. If I hadn't survived the attack on my planet, and you hadn't had that accident, would either of us be Guardians now?"

I thought for a long moment on that question, then slowly shook my head. No. Only a major catalyst was able to move one from ordinary to Guardian. Every one of the Guardians had that in common. All that differed was what kind of catalyst was required to make the transformation occur.

"But," I said, "I don't have that kind of power. How would I be able to arrange to become a Guardian?"

Once again came the shrug. "Stranger things than that have happened, Frostbite. And you're one of the strangest things I've ever seen." He playfully ruffled my hair, then stood up. "I need a change of scenery. What would you say to a surprise attack on the north pole? I've got some good trick eggs stored up."

Did I really hear him suggesting what I thought he was? Had he turned into me somehow? "You?" I said. "_You want to prank North?"_

"Why, are you chickening out?" He winked at me, and I laughed and leapt to my feet.

"Nope, count me in. I'll provide the snowballs."

"Thought you might." He clapped me on the back, and the two of us strolled off to conspire together. North would probably wonder if we had eaten some sort of chocolate that had made the two of us switch bodies or something. We might as well let him think that. He probably wouldn't be able to believe the truth anyway.

_**Hope you all liked that. I'd love to know your thoughts! Do you like stories like this? I keep coming up with ideas like this lately, so if you liked this one, I could easily write more. Just let me know. :)**_

_**Thanks for reading, and take care! See you next time!**_


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